A herbicide-free farming approach, and a belief in a clean green iMerino fibre has seen the Leske family reap the rewards at its Esperance property.
Since returning to the farm in 2019 after completing a heavy diesel apprenticeship, fifth-generation farmer Mark Leske now works alongside his parents Malcolm and Ruth, where he and his wife, Bree, are raising their young son son Noah.
The family farm, Tallerack, is named after a type of eucalyptus tree that grows on the property, which was purchased by the family in 1978.
For a long time, a Merino wether buying and selling business was seen as the best fit for the Leskes, before they started breeding Merinos.
After buying-in some ewes from the local Welke family and Ashgrove Merinos, the shift from marketing wethers was converted into their own breeding program in 2006.
The 2350 hectare property now operates as half livestock and half cropping.
The family has built its numbers up to 1400 breeding ewes, with 850 head joined to Merinos and 550 to meat breed rams, plus 400 ewe hoggets and replacement ewe lambs - with trade lambs brought in when the seasons allow.
About 1000 hectares is dedicated to cropping, made up of mostly wheat and a small amount of oats.
Due to the chemical-free approach, Mr Leske said they wait for the rain to assist them in helping the weeds grow so they can clear them prior to seeding.
"We can't control any weeds once we've started seeding, so it's crucial to clear them beforehand," Mr Leske said.
"Although we aren't organic, the main reason behind being chemical-free is to prioritise human health and soil health."
Mr Leske's parents are also passionate about servicing a niche market for WA businesses.
"We allocate a small percentage of our grain to provide wheat for Blue Sky Bread in Roleystone, and supply locals with wheat and flour," Mr Leske said.
He said the cropping aspect wouldn't be what it is today without the Merinos being a lifeline.
"The sheep are essential for making the whole system work, including controlling the weeds so we can be chemical-free," Mr Leske said.
The versatility and dual-income is the main driver behind the Merinos at their family farm and the Leskes enjoy making the most of the meat and wool traits they offer.
"Over time we have changed the type of Merino we want to breed," he said.
"We focus on increasing our wool cut and finding a balance with maintaining good carcase weight.
"At the moment, we have a good mix of wool cut and carcase weights, and produce lambs with a quick turnoff and good growth - although we always aim to improve that."
Former South Australian Ashrose Poll Merino stud owners, the Ashby family, played a big role in assisting the Leskes with starting their own breeding system.
"We used to purchase our rams from there before they sold the stud," Mr Leske said.
"We have tried various bloodlines in the past and now use the Wattle Dale Merino stud, Scaddan, for wool type and Penrose Poll Merino stud, Lort River, for bigger, meatier animals with soft rolling skin and a plainer body.
"Wattle Dale assists our program by allowing us to shear every 12 months for simplicity of our management because their rams are a denser growing sheep, fleece wise."
When it comes to ram selection, visual appraisal assisted by Australian Sheep Breeding Values (ASBV) are the best methods for the Leskes to pick top-quality sires.
"We select on good conformation, white bright wool and clean fleece weight," he said.
"In future, we'd like to look more at eye muscle area and dual purpose indexes going forward."
The breeding season at Tallerack starts in early November when rams are joined to ewes at two per cent, strictly for 35 days or less.
"We go off a 35-day joining period so lamb growth remains close together, which helps manage the lambs when we are weighing them," Mr Leske said.
The maiden ewes are separated from the other breeders in mobs of 350-400, while the older, mixed age ewes are joined in mobs of 500-600.
Mr Leske said about 500 ewes were set aside to breed with meat breeds sires.
The type of ewes determine if they will be joined to a Merino or other breed ram after being classed as a one-and-a-half year old and on a continual basis.
"If the ewes have desirable traits, we will join them with Merino sires and anything with traits we don't want will be joined with crossbred rams," Mr Leske said.
During the pregnancy scanning process, ewes are separated into twins, singles and drys, any dry maiden ewes will often get a second chance, whereas older ewes are marked as culls.
Mr Leske said for the past few years they have been retaining any dry ewes to rebuild their stocking rate.
"In 2019 and 2020 we sold a lot of our ewes because we had very dry seasons, so we've been retaining older ewes to build our numbers back up," he said.
April lambing ensures that lambs aren't dropping in the cooler winter months to increase survivability, which Mr Leske said was the perfect time to lamb due to the weather still being slightly warm.
"The mated percentage at marking for both Merinos and crossbreds was 103pc and we achieved scanned percentages of 112pc for Merinos and 124pc for crossbreds," he said.
"We mark and tail in May, as well as giving the lambs Glanvac and Eryvac vaccinations."
Next up on the calendar is weaning, which takes place at the beginning of July.
"Weaning our Merino lambs in July allows us to give the ewes some recovery time before we start shearing in August," Mr Leske said.
"We shear all of our sheep in August each year, apart from our Merino lambs."
The retained Merino ewe lambs are shorn in October, while the remainder of the lamb progeny are sold from August to early September.
"We like to market lambs a bit earlier, hence why we wean them at four months old so we can sell them before the main flush of lambs come in," Mr Leske said.
All the unweaned crossbred lambs and Merino wether lambs are marketed to WAMMCO.
"We sell the crossbreds straight from the paddock off mum for ease of management," Mr Leske said.
In terms of supplementary feeding, the lambing ewes aren't put onto any cropping stubbles to graze on over summer.
Ewes are kept on pastures until they start lambing, and then moved onto untouched wheat stubbles a few weeks prior, as a feed source when lambs begin to drop.
"While they're on the wheat stubbles during lambing they receive hay and oats and a mineral lick as a supplement," Mr Leske said.
Mr Leske uses a self-regenerating ryegress, medic and subclover base pasture that grows in autumn, winter and spring.
"On the sandier parts of the farm, we have sown Serradella which seems to thrive in our region," he said.
